The present invention relates generally to regulated power supply devices, and in particular to voltage regulators.
Regulated power supply devices are utilized to provide a controlled voltage or current to a load in accordance with desired regulation characteristics. In general terms, there are two types of regulator circuits, linear static regulators and switching dynamic regulators. A static regulator typically provides a controlled output in response to slower transient loads. A dynamic regulator provides a controlled output based upon faster varying load characteristics. The design choice of using either a static regulator or a dynamic regulator is based upon the application in which the regulator is intended to be utilized. A static regulator is typically utilized where slow transient currents that would load the regulator are possible. A dynamic regulator is typically utilized where fast transient current values are possible.
The present invention is directed to a voltage regulator that combines regulation techniques of both static regulators and dynamic regulators in which a static regulator portion of the voltage regulator provides a static regulated output, and a dynamic regulator portion of the voltage regulator provides a dynamic regulated output. In one embodiment of the invention, a dynamic regulator portion is provided with the output of a static regulator for controlling the output of the dynamic regulator portion of the voltage regulator.
In one embodiment, the invention includes a means for providing a static regulated output based upon a reference, and means for providing a regulated output based upon the static regulated output as an input thereto. In another embodiment, the invention includes a static regulator for providing a static regulated output based upon a reference, and a subcircuit for providing a regulated output based upon the static regulated output. In a particular embodiment of the invention, the subcircuit includes a dynamic regulator, and in another particular embodiment of the invention, the subcircuit includes a boost circuit. In a further embodiment, the invention includes a static regulator having a static regulator output, and a dynamic regulator having a regulated output wherein the static regulator output of said static regulator is coupled to a reference input of the dynamic regulator. In one particular embodiment, a voltage regulator of the present invention is provided on a semiconductor circuit for providing a regulated supply to other circuitry also disposed on the semiconductor, for example a programmable logic device, and which optionally includes static core circuitry as a static regulator load, and switching core circuitry as a dynamic regulator load. These and other embodiments are contemplated by the invention, which is not intended to be limited to any particular embodiment or embodiments described herein.